William Lenthall

William Lenthall (1591-3 September 1662) was Speaker of the House of Commons from 1640 to 1653, from 1654 to 1655, and from 1659 to 1660. On 4 January 1642, he refused to help King Charles I of England locate the five MPs whom he had ordered arrested, causing the King to order Parliament's dissolution; this resulted in the start of the English Civil War.

Biography
William Lenthall was born in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England in 1591, and he became a lawyer in 1616 and became MP for New Woodstock from 1624 to 1625 and Magistrate of Oxfordshire in 1631. In 1640, he returned as an MP during the Long Parliament, and he became Speaker of the House of Commons. On 4 January 1642, when King Charles I of England came into Parliament with armed guards and demanded that Lenthall tell him the whereabouts of five MPs whom he had ordered arrested, Lenthall defiantly replied, "I have neither eyes to see nor tongue to speak in this place but as this House is pleased to direct me." Six days later, King Charles and most of the Royalist MPs fled London, and King Charles declared Parliament to be in a state of rebellion shortly after, leading to the English Civil War. Lenthall was initially in favor of sending peace proposals to the King, but he later affiliated himself with the Independents (Congregationalists) in Parliament and remained silent during Pride's Purge. In February 1649, he became the de jure leading citizen of England after the monarchy and the House of Lords were abolished, but he argued against a pure republic and favored a mixed constitution incorporating some role for a monarch. On 20 April 1653, Oliver Cromwell had Parliament dissolved, as it had proven useless in governing the country. He periodically returned as Speaker for the Parliament of the Protectorate under Cromwell, and he presided over the revived Long Parliament in 1659 following Richard Cromwell's overthrow. On 16 March 1660, the Rump Parliament voted to dissolve itself, ending Lenthall's speakership. While he was strongly denounced by William Prynne and was refused the title Master of the Rolls under King Charles II of England, he was only barred from public office for the rest of his life and was never tried for treason. He died in 1662.